By Ian Harrison
SPORTSNET.CA

Great googly moogly! Cricket is coming to Sportsnet! This spring, watch the world's best cricketers tangle for the title in the fourth season of the Indian Premier League. But what's that? You don't know your stumps from your slips or how to bowl a googly? Fear not. We'll get you out of that sticky wicket with our 'Cricket for Dummies' guide.

If you know the rules of baseball, cricket should come easy. Sure, there are differences, but the basic idea is the same. One team bats and tries to score runs while the other team fields and tries to record outs. Two umpires watch over the action. The ball is roughly the same size and weight as a baseball, but with seams running around the centre. There are 11 players on each side, some who are batting specialists and others who are best at bowling (the cricket equivalent of pitching). Players who excel at both sides of the game are called 'All-rounders.' Score more runs than your opponent, and you win the game.

A cricket pitch is a huge, grassy oval, generally between 100 and 150 metres wide in either direction and marked by an outer boundary line. A batted ball that clears the boundary on the fly is automatically worth six runs, the cricket equivalent of a home run. A ball that bounces over the boundary is worth four runs. At the centre of the field is the 'pitch' or the 'wicket,' a narrow strip 22 yards long, about the same distance between the mound and home plate. This is where the bulk of the action takes place. A dotted circle that runs around the wicket marks the area where a majority of fielders must stand during offensive 'power plays,' select periods in which the batting team is encouraged to try and hit long balls over the top and toward the boundary.

Unlike baseball, cricket doesn't have half innings. One team bats until it is 'all out', then the two sides switch. Cricket batsmen work in pairs and can't bat alone, so once 10 batters have been retired, it's time to change. There's no foul territory in cricket either, meaning you can hit the ball in any direction you want, straight ahead, from side to side or even behind you. And if you hit the ball but don't want to run, no problem. Just stand still and wait for the next delivery.

Cricket bats are wider than baseball bats and made of willow, not ash. They're flat on the front and peaked on the back, with a cylindrical handle on the top. The batsman's job is to protect the stumps. Those are the three sticks in the ground behind him. They're joined on the top by the bails, two pieces of wood that sit across the stumps. If a batter swings and misses and the ball hits the stumps and dislodges the bails, the wicket is said to be 'broken' and the batter is bowled out. A batsman is also out if he hits the ball with his bat or leg and deflects it onto the stumps, knocking off the bails.

Standing behind the stumps and waiting to receive each delivery is the wicket keeper, cricket's version of the catcher. The only fielder who wears gloves on his hands, the wicket keeper also wears the same type of leg padding that batsmen wear, sort of a cross between a back catcher's shin guards and hockey goalie pads. Wicket keepers need to be among the most sure-handed players because they're involved in the most action, catching each delivery as well as return throws from fielders and making plays on balls that glance off the side of the bat.

The cricket equivalent of the pitcher is the bowler, but the type of arm motion they use is very different. In baseball, pitchers generate speed and power by snapping the elbow as they throw the ball. This is not allowed in cricket. The ball must be bowled, not thrown, and the elbow joint must stay locked during the bowling motion. Power comes from the rotation of the arm at the shoulder, with spin added by the wrist and fingers. It's not necessary to bounce the ball, but doing so adds extra spin and makes it more difficult for the batter to hit. Six deliveries are called an 'over,' after which the bowler changes ends.

Fast bowlers take a long run up before their delivery and reach speeds of 90 miles per hour or more. Spin bowlers, the knuckleballers of cricket, take shorter run ups and bowl much slower, around 50 miles per hour, but rely on bounce and spin to fool batters. The most famous spin bowling technique is the googly, a deceptive delivery that spins one way in the air but bounces back towards the batter after hitting the ground. Bowlers are allowed to shine up one side of the ball and can even use saliva and sweat to make it move, or 'swing' through the air on its way to the batter.

If a batter hits a ball that doesn't clear the boundary and decides to run, he and his partner score one run each time they change ends on the 22-yard wicket. But if the fielders return the ball to the wicket and dislodge the bails before a running batsman can get back to his crease, he's out. Batters sometime slide headfirst, their bat extended out in front of them, trying to beat a throw from a fielder.

Outs are precious in cricket and, like baseball, any ball caught on the fly means the batter is out. As such, the best batsmen are those who can keep the ball down by hitting low lines drives or hard ground balls. Fly balls are a recipe for disaster. It's tempting to swing big and go for a six, but if you're caught, it's all over. Meanwhile, spare a thought for the fielders who make bare-handed, palm-bruising catches of batted balls. No sissy gloves for these guys, whose fingers take a pounding.

Another way for a batter to be dismissed is lbw, or 'leg before wicket.' When a fielding team thinks a batter is guilty of an lbw, they'll turn to the umpire and yell 'Howzat?,' the cricket version of 'How was that?' If the umpire rules that the delivery was on line to hit the stumps but didn't make it because the batsman blocked it with his leg pads, he'll raise his index finger and the batter is ruled out.

Worried that a game of cricket will take five days to play, including breaks for tea and sandwiches? Not in the Indian Premier League. Those marathons are called Test Matches, and are generally international affairs. But unlike the traditional cricket test, the IPL is rock and roll cricket, fast and colourful, played at night before crazed crowds. Each batting team only gets 20 overs (or 120 deliveries from the bowlers) to score runs, meaning they must be aggressive and take chances. This relatively new form of cricket is known as Twenty20, in reference to the number of overs, and it's enormously popular with fans.

So, now that you know the ropes, it's time to get ready for season four of the IPL. Will Indian national team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, fresh off leading his country to a World Cup crown on home soil, deliver a second straight title for the Chennai Super Kings? Or can the Mumbai Indians, led by cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, overturn a narrow championship defeat from last season? Tune into Sportsnet and sportsnet.ca to find out.